We describe a new species of Nothonotus from the Caney Fork River drainage, Tennessee, USA, and assess morphological variation in N. microlepidus and N. sanguifluus with specimens sampled from all known populations. We used Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) on a meristic dataset from 831 individuals to delimit species of the N. maculatus species group endemic to the Cumberland River drainage. We assigned populations to groups in the LDA on the basis of phylogenetic lineages identified in previous studies of Nothonotus darters using mitochondrial and nuclear gene DNA sequences. The discriminant functions were able to reasonably differentiate among N. microlepidus, N. sanguifluus and the new species of Nothonotus. The discriminant functions did not reliably differentiate among N. sanguifluus populations sampled from different tributaries in the Cumberland River drainage. Two populations of N. sanguifluus were not included in the LDA because of limited material and thus could not be assigned to a group; these are tentatively assigned to N. sanguifluus partially on the basis of predictions using the model from the LDA and the estimated phylogeny. Phylogenetic and multivariate analyses of morphological characters allow differentiation of the new species from its closest relatives, N. microlepidus and N. sanguifluus. Additionally, the new species can be differentiated from other species in the N. maculatus species group with a combination of characters, including having red in all median fins of breeding-condition males, the presence of a suborbital bar, extensive red in the pectoral fins, and lower counts of lateral line scales as compared with N. sanguifluus. With the description of this new species of Nothonotus there are now five described endemic darters occurring in the Caney Fork above Great Falls.

Caenagnathid theropods are a relatively common part of the theropod fauna in the Late Cretaceous of Asia and North America, but have not previously been described from the southernmost United States. Here, we describe caenagnathid fossils from the late Campanian Aguja Formation of West Texas, and revise the systematics of caenagnathids from the Campanian of North America. Caenagnathids from the late Campanian of Canada represent three species in three genera: Caenagnathus collinsi, Chirostenotes pergracilis and Leptorhynchos elegans gen. nov. Leptorhynchos is diagnosed by its small size, its short, deep mandible, and the upturned tip of the beak. A single caenagnathid is known from the late Campanian of Utah, Hagryphus giganteus. Two caenagnathid species occur in the Aguja Formation, ?Chirostenotes sp. and Leptorhynchos gaddisi sp. nov. L. gaddisi differs from L. elegans in that the tip of the beak is narrower and less upturned. Phylogenetic analysis recovers Caenagnathidae and Oviraptoridae as monophyletic sister taxa. Within Caenagnathidae, the North American species seem to form a monophyletic assemblage, the Caenagnathinae, within which Chirostenotes and Caenagnathus form a clade to the exclusion of Leptorhynchos. The discovery of Chirostenotes gaddisi provides more evidence for the existence of a distinct dinosaurian fauna in southern North America during the Campanian. Furthermore, the Aguja fossils show that caenagnathids were widespread and highly diverse in the Late Cretaceous of North America. This diversity was maintained in two ways. First, variation in body size and beak shape suggests that diversity within formations is maintained by niche partitioning, in a way analogous to Darwin's finches. Second, diversity is maintained by high degree of endemism, with different species of caenagnathids occurring in different habitats.

North America hosted a diverse assemblage of horned dinosaurs from the late Campanian until the end of the Cretaceous, but comparatively little is known about earlier horned dinosaurs. This paper reports on previously undescribed ceratopsian remains from the middle Campanian beds of the Judith River Formation of Montana, which represent the oldest known chasmosaurine. The Judith River chasmosaur shows a combination of characters not seen in any previously described ceratopsid. The parietal has a broad median bar, a rounded caudal margin, and highly reduced epiparietals. Episquamosals are enlarged anteriorly but decrease in size posteriorly, and imbricate as in centrosaurines. The postorbital horns are moderately elongate, inclined anterolaterally, and have an unusual teardrop-shaped cross section. The unique combination of characters seen in the Judith River chasmosaurine precludes referral to any previously known genus, and it is therefore described as a new genus and species, Judiceratops tigris. The addition of Judiceratops to the dinosaurian fauna of North America underscores the diversity of horned dinosaurs in the Late Cretaceous, which results from a combination of high diversity within faunas, a high degree of endemism, and rapid faunal turnover.

Numerous new trackways of the small, ornithischian dinosaurs ichnogenus Anomoepus were discovered in the Lower Jurassic (Hettangian) East Berlin Formation in Holyoke, Massachusetts. This new material consists of 16 trackways, on two bedding surfaces 1.5 cm apart, all in close proximity to each other. The abundant pedal and manual impressions have well-preserved digital pad impressions, and claw marks are often discernible also. An Osteometric analysis allows reconstruction of the pedal digits and weight-bearing portions of the metatarsals. On the basis of their small size, as well as distinctive features and proportions of both the manus and pes impressions, these prints are assigned to the ichnospecies Anomoepus lacertoideus (comb. nov.). Three ichnospecies of Anomoepus can be recognized in the Lower Jurassic of the Newark Supergroup: A. lacertoideus, A. scambus and A. crassus. The A. lacertoideus footprints described herein provide evidence that this small, ornithischian track maker engaged in a variety of locomotion-related behaviors. Trackways mostly consist of digitigrade pes prints, reflecting bipedal locomotion, but intervals of quadrupedal progression also are documented by metatarsal and manus imprints in seven trackways. The longest trackways, each consisting of 10 to 15 pes impressions, vary in morphology as a result of the presence or absence of an impression of the distal parts of metatarsals II and IV. The manus prints show two distinct digital divarication angles, 120° and 180°, depending on whether the animal was walking normally or stopping. Variations in substrate consistency influenced locomotor behavior, as shown by the variable pattern of body weight distributions on the pedal digits. Such differences are especially apparent in the longest trackways, which vary in stride and pace lengths. The trends of the abundant trackways at this site also suggest group behavior in Anomoepus, something previously unrecorded for this ichnogenus in the Connecticut River Valley. Evidence from the East Berlin Formation suggests that ichnogenus Anomoepus is not monospecific as some authors have suggested.

The identification and taxonomy of Placobdella papillifera (Verrill, 1872) Moore, 1952 have been blurred by its varieties and have been compounded by the apparent lack of type material. Leeches collected from May 2008 through August 2012 from West River, New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut, the type locality of Clepsine papillifera Verrill, 1872, were consistant with P. papillifera (Verrill, 1872) Moore 1952 as described by Verrill (1872). The acquisition of these specimens from the type locality facilitated redescription of P. papillifera. A neotype is designated to stabilize the concept of P. papillifera. Placobdella papillifera appears to exhibit relatively low host specificity, having been documented on Chrysemys picta, Chelydra serpentina, Sternotherus odoratus and Homo sapiens in this study. Molecular comparison of CO-I sequence data from P. papillifera revealed differences of 15% from Placobdella ornata, 16% from P. rugosa, 18% from P. ali, 17% from P. multilineata and 14% from P. parasitica.